


no doubts in my mind, I know that I'm surely sure

by sam_writes_fics



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Formalwear, One Shot, Post-Canon, Pure unadulterated Love, Romance, Santos Administration, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Sweet, he's only got eyes for you babe, inaugural balls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29862432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sam_writes_fics/pseuds/sam_writes_fics
Summary: Just then, Josh caught a flash of silver sparkles and blonde hair from across the room. He kept his eyes trained in that direction, searching for another glimpse of her.There was something about Inaugural Balls.
Relationships: Josh Lyman & Donna Moss, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	no doubts in my mind, I know that I'm surely sure

**Author's Note:**

> **not my characters, I just love writing them**
> 
> title inspired by lyrics from Love of My Life by alybob

**January 20th, 2011**

There was always something about Inaugural Balls.

Josh had been to hundreds of black-tie events in his tenure at the White House. He’d been to a number of them under President Bartlet, but somehow, he’d been to even more as Chief of Staff to President Santos in his first term. He wasn’t sure how that was possible, but he was almost certain it was true.

The state dinners and high roller fundraising parties were becoming more and more boring for Josh. He’d gone to so many of them in his lifetime that they were all starting to blend together. Schmoozing this senator or that congressman or making sure to shake the hand of a certain donor of the party, it was starting to play on a loop in his memory.

That was how he felt two weeks ago in another DC ballroom, standing right hand to the President at a state dinner.

But tonight, tonight was a whole other ballgame.

Josh had always loved the nights following the Inauguration. The Inaugural Balls were some of the best nights of his life. All three previous ones had been above and beyond his expectations. He was beginning to worry if tonight would start to seem like commonplace, adding a fourth event of the same kind to his memory.

He stopped worrying the second he stepped into the ballroom.

It was something about the atmosphere, Josh was almost sure of it. The victory party after the hard-fought battle, Inaugural Balls were meant to be celebrated higher and harder than any other event. It was the one night a year he could lay the subtext of “I told you so” or “I won” as thick as he wanted to any other political player in the district.

Josh Lyman was in his element.

He arrived at the first ball ten minutes ago with the newly re-elected President Santos. He spent five minutes standing with the President, waiting for the First Lady’s entourage to arrive, before the President sent him into the ballroom ahead of him. Josh knew it was half because of all the mingling he had to do in the short time they were there, and half because he couldn’t stop pacing the back hallways of the venue.

The President had to wait to enter the party with the First Lady, who apparently was running slightly behind schedule after a hair and makeup fiasco that Josh was told needed immediate fixing if she wanted to look anywhere near halfway decent.

Josh thought that Helen Santos was a decently attractive woman without all the pomp and circumstance of black-tie hair and makeup, but he decided not to voice that opinion when half of her staff was yelling at him over the phone.

That half of the staff being led by one particularly bold voice that he knew all too well not to question over things like this.

So, instead of driving the President crazy with his pacing, he was sent into the ballroom with the guests. Josh was fine with that. It wasn’t like he entered with the First Family anyways. He usually slipped in casually through a side door right before the President and First Lady made their grand entrance. Most times he was accompanied by at least one familiar face, but apparently this first ball of the night was one of the few exceptions.

After making polite conversation with two congressmen and a governor, he made his way over to the bar. Josh wasn’t an idiot, he knew not to get wasted at events like this, but he figured that one drink couldn’t hurt.

That theory usually served him well, until they make it to the fifth or sixth ball and he goes for the second scotch out of pure boredom. That’s usually where the wheels come off the wagon for him.

He was leaning up against the bar, waiting for his drink, when a woman walked up beside him.

“Hi there,” she said.

“Hello,” he responded.

“Some party, huh?”

She was young, probably somewhere in her mid-twenties. She wore a strapless emerald green dress, and her chestnut-colored hair draped loosely around one shoulder. With a sly smile and big brown eyes, she had every man in this ballroom turning his head as she walked by and she knew it.

Josh knew her type in an instant.

“Well, I imagine it’ll pick up a bit when the President makes his entrance,” he answered, trying to be polite and muster through the conversation.

“I doubt it,” the young lady mused. “I’ve been to enough of these to know that the applause and fanfare will last for maybe a minute before the crowd settles down again. After that, if you’re not a high-ranking member of the Democratic Party, the night will carry on the same as before.”

She wasn’t wrong, but Josh seriously considered just how many Inaugural Balls she’d been to at the ripe age of twenty-five, give or take a year or two. It was at most one, not including tonight.

Josh just nodded his head as the bartended placed his drink in front of him. As he took the first sip, his eyes quickly scanned the room looking for someone in particular.

“I’m Sophia Wilson,” she said as she held out her hand towards Josh.

“Josh Lyman,” he replied as he shook her hand. He dropped it immediately after, taking another sip of his drink.

“So, tell me, Josh Lyman, what do you keep searching the crowd for?” she asked.

He looked her in the eyes and answered honestly.

“My date.”

“Awaiting her arrival, or avoiding her completely?” Sophia asked.

“Awaiting,” he answered smoothly.

“That’s too bad,” she responded. “I was hoping you’d buy a girl a drink.”

“It’s an open bar,” he deadpanned.

“Sure, here it is,” she answered, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, “but I was actually talking about later.”

Josh raised his eyebrows as he took another sip of his drink.

“You could meet me somewhere after this,” she suggested with a spark in her eyes.

If this were fifteen – hell, even ten – years ago, Josh would have jumped at the opportunity. He knew her type. Attractive, suave, and sometimes smart too. A younger version of him would have admired her boldness, and probably would have even taken her up on her offer.

But here and now, Josh Lyman only had eyes for one woman, and he was more than okay with that.

“I’m married,” he threw back, eyes scanning the crowd of the ballroom once again.

“So?” she asked.

Josh met her eyes at that challenge.

“Let me rephrase that,” he said slowly, “I’m happily married.”

He made a show of taking his left hand out of his pants pocket and picking up the tumbler on the bar with it. The gold wedding band on his ring finger reflected the bright lights of the ballroom.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” Sophia smiled.

Just then, Josh caught a flash of silver sparkles and blonde hair from across the room. He kept his eyes trained in that direction, searching for another glimpse of her.

“Let me guess. She’s a nice girl you settled down with a long time ago. You say you’re happy, but really that’s just what you say when you’re in the public eye of the district. If you’re lucky, you can say you love her without feeling like you’re lying.”

Josh finally spotted her halfway across the room. Her back was towards him – the silver straps of her dress crisscrossing over her shoulders, leaving a tastefully sexy yet elegant amount of exposed skin across her back – but he’d recognize her anywhere.

He made no attempt at responding to Sophia’s comments.

“Guys like you, you’re all the same around here,” the brunette continued.

He watched her laugh at something in the distance. It would have driven him crazy, her laughing at some other guy’s joke, but this time he could just make out Sam’s figure standing next to her.

“You think you know what you want until something better comes along.”

Josh’s attention snapped back to the woman beside him.

“You think you’re that something better?” he asked incredulously.

“Maybe,” she said casually.

Josh turned back to the crowd of people and his eyes fell on the beautiful blonde in the middle of it. He watched as she scanned the crowd herself, slowly turning until she spotted him over her shoulder.

His heart rate soared when she smiled at him.

It was something about Inaugural Balls.

He’s known her for close to fifteen years, loved her for more than half of that, and the way she looks at him never gets old. He swore he could survive off of nothing but her smile for days.

“Just let me say this,” the girl at the bar said, bringing Josh’s attention back to his immediate surroundings.

He glanced at her with raised eyebrows again before turning his attention back to the blonde who was now in the midst of a conversation with who he could only assume was Annabeth, coming in at five foot nothing in her heels.

The expression he wore on his face bordered on amusement and disbelief that this conversation next to him was still going on.

Sophia leaned in closer to him, pulling out all the stops at a last-ditch attempt to capture his attention, as she all but whispered in his ear.

“I bet she doesn’t look half as good as I do in a ballgown.”

Josh didn’t flinch.

He gave half a shrug as he finished the last of his drink. He swallowed the liquor and looked the brunette in the eyes.

“No.”

He patiently set the glass down on the bar and grinned.

“She looks better.”

Josh took off, leaving the bar and its patrons behind, never once looking back. He was a man on a mission, and he didn’t stop until he reached his intended target.

He found her facing away from him once again, chatting and laughing with Sam and Annabeth. He couldn’t help but grin as he approached his friends.

His hands carefully slid around her waist as he leaned over her shoulder and pressed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

“I was wondering when you were going to notice me,” she said with a smile as she leaned back into his embrace.

“I noticed you the second you walked into the room,” he answered as he pressed another kiss to her temple, “just like always.”

Sam and Annabeth made themselves scarce.

“Besides,” he lowered his voice as he whispered in her ear, “how could I _not_ notice you in this dress?”

She stepped out of his arms, holding on to his hand, and twirled around in front of him.

“Donnatella Moss, you are absolutely enchanting,” he praised as he brought her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

She gave him the full thousand-watt smile, and he swore his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she teased him.

“Only the ones who were stupid enough to marry me,” he teased back.

“I still don’t know how you tricked me into that one,” she smiled.

“A good magician never reveals his secrets,” he grinned.

He pulled her back to him, and with one hand cupping her cheek, and the other spread across the skin of her open back, he kissed her slowly and with his whole heart.

They were both grinning like teenagers when they separated.

“Something about Inaugural Balls,” she mused. “I swear they’re magical.”

He couldn’t help but smile. After three years of marriage and more than a decade together, she could still effortlessly read his mind.

“The Balls are nice, but I think the only magic here tonight is you in that dress.”

He started to pull her towards the dance floor while she formulated a response.

“You really like the dress?” she asked with a slight smile.

“Well, I think I’ll like it on the floor of our bedroom even more, but this way is nice too,” he teased.

“Josh-,” she started before she was cut off.

He kissed her quickly and whispered against her mouth, “dance with me.”

There were two things in this world Donnatella Moss could not resist: her husband’s dimples, and dancing at the Inaugural Balls.

When she was facing both at the same time, she was a lost cause, and she was very much okay with that.

The couple spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms. They spun each other around the dance floor all night at nine different very public venues, only to end the night wrapped up together, swaying softly alone in their very private apartment.

From the second he left her behind at the bar, Josh didn’t give a second thought to a certain brunette in an emerald green dress.

His sole focus that night, just as it was every other night, was the blonde that would end up in his arms and in his bed as they drifted off to sleep much later in the evening.

He was careful to make sure the dress ended up on a hanger.

And they say marriage doesn’t change a man.

**Author's Note:**

> listen, i wrote this at midnight last night because i needed to get it out of my head. just like most of my one shots idk what it is or how it came about, but here it is, so enjoy i guess.
> 
> as always, comments fuel my ego
> 
> talk to me on tumblr, you can find me at sam-loves-seb


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